Thoughts on Practice
yoginimary
Posts: 6,789 Member
Wise words by my yoga friend Sharon Conroy:
"Many years ago, inspired by Iyengar Yoga classes and a teacher's encouraging words, I set about establishing a home practice. Each night, I set the intention to wake up and go to my mat. Each morning, I was lured to do otherwise by the voices inside my head. One day, they might advise me to make phone calls before practice. Another day, they might tell me to give priority to a household task. Because I trusted them, I followed their advice. However, within a few weeks, I saw that the voices always found a way to sidetrack me from my practice. And the later I delayed it, the less likely the practice was to happen.
I began to suspect that the voices weren't as trustworthy as I'd always thought they were. Perhaps what they wanted and what I now wanted were quite different. At that point, I came up with a strategy to evade them. I'd wake up and immediately get on my mat and into a pose before I became fully conscious, before the voices could begin bombarding me with alternative suggestions for how to spend my time. The plan worked. While it took will power to get out of bed and onto the mat, I was getting there most days. And, while it took will power to detach from the thoughts that began to enter my mind as soon as I was totally awake, I was able to do so more often than not. With persistence, slowly but surely, over a period of about six months, it became easier and easier to turn my attention away from the voices. Instead of heeding their advice, I was able to continue with my practice...
... Once I could get to the mat each morning, my practice deepened. However, the voices didn't disappear. In fact, they grew stronger when I was unsure of myself, more vulnerable. This was especially true when I worked on a pose that was new or difficult.
For about a year, Adho Mukha Vrksasana, full arm balance, was such a pose. There were times I could get up easily and other times I couldn't get up at all. When that happened, the voices escalated their arguments. They told me in many different ways that if I couldn't get up in this pose, then perhaps I shouldn't be doing yoga. Determined to learn full arm balance, I decided upon a strategy. Every day, I would practice the pose three times. If I got up, fine. If I didn't get up, fine. The voices saw things differently. Every time I didn't get up, they ridiculed me, told me that I'd never get the pose. After several weeks of this daily assault, I dismissed them bluntly and threatened harsher consequences if they didn't heed my words. To my own amazement, this worked."
Here's a link to the full article that is about a concept called Vairagya:
http://iynaus.org/yoga-samachar/springsummer-2009/vairagya-–-becoming-ease-what
"Many years ago, inspired by Iyengar Yoga classes and a teacher's encouraging words, I set about establishing a home practice. Each night, I set the intention to wake up and go to my mat. Each morning, I was lured to do otherwise by the voices inside my head. One day, they might advise me to make phone calls before practice. Another day, they might tell me to give priority to a household task. Because I trusted them, I followed their advice. However, within a few weeks, I saw that the voices always found a way to sidetrack me from my practice. And the later I delayed it, the less likely the practice was to happen.
I began to suspect that the voices weren't as trustworthy as I'd always thought they were. Perhaps what they wanted and what I now wanted were quite different. At that point, I came up with a strategy to evade them. I'd wake up and immediately get on my mat and into a pose before I became fully conscious, before the voices could begin bombarding me with alternative suggestions for how to spend my time. The plan worked. While it took will power to get out of bed and onto the mat, I was getting there most days. And, while it took will power to detach from the thoughts that began to enter my mind as soon as I was totally awake, I was able to do so more often than not. With persistence, slowly but surely, over a period of about six months, it became easier and easier to turn my attention away from the voices. Instead of heeding their advice, I was able to continue with my practice...
... Once I could get to the mat each morning, my practice deepened. However, the voices didn't disappear. In fact, they grew stronger when I was unsure of myself, more vulnerable. This was especially true when I worked on a pose that was new or difficult.
For about a year, Adho Mukha Vrksasana, full arm balance, was such a pose. There were times I could get up easily and other times I couldn't get up at all. When that happened, the voices escalated their arguments. They told me in many different ways that if I couldn't get up in this pose, then perhaps I shouldn't be doing yoga. Determined to learn full arm balance, I decided upon a strategy. Every day, I would practice the pose three times. If I got up, fine. If I didn't get up, fine. The voices saw things differently. Every time I didn't get up, they ridiculed me, told me that I'd never get the pose. After several weeks of this daily assault, I dismissed them bluntly and threatened harsher consequences if they didn't heed my words. To my own amazement, this worked."
Here's a link to the full article that is about a concept called Vairagya:
http://iynaus.org/yoga-samachar/springsummer-2009/vairagya-–-becoming-ease-what
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Replies
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Thank you for sharing! I definitely need to work on developing a home practice. I'm great about going to classes, but left to my own devices, my practice is very inconsistent.0
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I needed to read this, Mary. I had resolved a number of weeks ago to do at least a short practice and meditation each morning, but my voices keep telling me to do other things just like in this article. Tomorrow I will try to get right on the mat before I can get sidetracked!0
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thank you for this! i need to do this to reestablish my home practice!
namaste.0 -
I do something first thing in the morning, even if it's only opening up my chest, back and shoulders to breath. It makes me feel like doing more.0
